Not captain anymore, Faf now has more time to help young batters: Van der Dussen

Faf du Plessis had resigned as South Africa's Test and T20 captian in February.

South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis walks off the field of play after losing his wicket from the bowling of Bangladesh’s Mehedi Hasan during the Cricket World Cup match between South Africa and Bangladesh at the Oval in London, Sunday, June 2, 2019. AP/PTI(AP6_2_2019_000142B)

South African batsman Rassie Van der Dussen feels senior teammate Faf du Plessis will now have more time to share his “wealth of wisdom” with the youngsters, having stepped down from captaincy.

Du Plessis had resigned as South Africa’s Test and T20 captian in February.

“Captaincy is an awesome responsibility, but you carry so much on your shoulders. You get scrutinised and it always comes back to the captain and you’ve got to deal with that as well as the praise that you get,” Van der Dussen told Sport24.

“Maybe that load off Faf’s shoulders, not that he ever struggled to carry it, might open him up a bit more to influence young batters coming in where maybe in the past he just didn’t have enough time to attend to those things.

“He has a wealth of wisdom that young batters can feed off and that I have fed off in the last 18 months,” added the 31-year-old, who had entered the national team under Du Plessis’ leadership.

Talking about the impact that du Plessis had on him when he made his debut, Van der Dussen said: “Faf was a big one for me when I started, but all of the senior guys made me feel really at home. Faf was definitely someone that I went to for advice.

“Faf and myself are not dissimilar players. I can relate to what he did in his game and his mental strength and everything that goes with that,” said the batsman, who made his Test debut against England in December.